Santa Cruz man identified as pilot in Modesto highway plane-landing incident
59-year-old Dirk Kanngiesser has been identified as the pilot who was forced to make an emergency landing on a highway in Modesto Friday night.
In audio released since then, Kanngiesser described his plane’s engine as being “rough” and that he may fall a half-mile short of the Modesto airport.
That was when he made the decision to land on the highway below.
Crews found the plane on fire on Highway 99 near the Crow’s Landing exit.
Ceres Fire crews and the CHP, along with Stanislaus County Sheriff’s deputies responded.
They say the pilot was fine and confirmed the pilot was the only one on board at the time the plane made the emergency landing.
CHP officers took up the initial investigation, however the FAA and NTSB are also looking into the incident.
